


Fissures of the Heart

by floweringlight



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-31 01:21:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21033059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floweringlight/pseuds/floweringlight
Summary: Imagined support conversations between Petra and Sylvain





	1. Support C

**Author's Note:**

> Best girl Petra and Sylvain needed a support conversation and so I took it upon myself to make one for them.

Support C 

Sylvain chatted with his newest conquest, noticing in his periphery that Petra observed him. _ “What does the Brigid beauty want with me?” _ he wondered idly. To the curvaceous blonde in front of him, Sylvain murmured, “We’ll chat later, my rose. It seems someone from the other class needs a word with me.” She giggled and flounced off, making sure he noticed how her dress fluttered on her hips. While his eyes drank in her body, his heart sank at yet another woman wanting only his Crest. 

He turned around and approached the Black Eagle. “Petra! To what do I owe this pleasure?” 

She stood akimbo, narrowing her eyes at his approach. “I did not think you would be noticing my sneaking.” 

“I always notice a pretty girl,” he replied, winking. 

“I am thinking this is a lie,” she replied. “You do not speak to Edelgard, and she is very beautiful.” 

Sylvain laughed nervously. “Edelgard would sooner behead me with an axe than let me flirt with her.” 

“You are correct. She has much focus on being a good ruler.” 

“If she wanted to rule my heart, I would let her,” he joked. 

“That is an impossible thing. Hearts cannot be ruled.” 

“It’s a figure of speech. It means I would let Edelgard love me if she wanted to.” 

Petra nodded slowly. “I have understanding. And I do not think you want Edelgard to love you.” 

“Would you love me?” he teased, leaning in closer to her face. 

She tilted her head, considering his question. “I have obligations to my country. And I do not think you are serious.” 

Exasperated, Sylvain threw his head back and sighed. “Why have you been watching me today?” 

“I have been watching you in secrecy for many months. You only saw me today,” Petra clarified. 

“Like what you see?” Sylvain teased, wanting to get a rise from the stoic girl. 

She ignored his flirting. “You give me much confusion,” Petra stated. “You spend much time with girls, but I am thinking you do not like them. Please explain.” 

Sylvain laughed, but there was no joy in the sound. “You have been watching me.” 

“That is what I said.” Petra said, waiting for an answer to her question. 

Sylvain frowned at her. “No offense, Petra, but I don’t know you and I don’t owe you an explanation for my behavior. So if you don’t mind, stop spying on me and leave me alone.” Without waiting for a response, Sylvain spun on his heel and walked away. 

Petra sighed, shaking her head. “He has much hurt inside. He is prey pretending to be a predator to scare others away. He must have much loneliness.” 


	2. Support B

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Petra tries to help Sylvain understand an important truth

Support B

Petra dodged an arrow shot by Shamir, dashing forward to swing her training sword. Shamir whipped a knife from her leg and threw it at the younger girl. Petra evaded the knife, but missed Shamir’s foot sweeping behind her leg. She fell, pinned with another knife at her throat. Petra admitted defeat.

“Much better,” Shamir said. “You have improved.”

“I have gratitude. I must be fighting to win.”

“Keep at it and you will.”

Petra beamed at the older woman and dusted herself off. “I enjoy training with you.”

“You’re not bad to spar with,” Shamir admitted. “Much better than most of the students.”

Petra blushed, embarrassed by the compliment. “You give me much praise.”

“You work hard for it.” Shamir ran a towel over her face, drying the sweat off and offered it to Petra. “Do you need it?”

“I will be training some more. I have no need yet.”

Shamir shrugged. “All right. Don't overdo it.” 

Petra nodded and picked up her training sword, focusing on one of the dummies.  Sh amir gathered her equipment and left . Petra began a complicated fighting pattern when a voice interrupted her concentration. Startled, Petra whipped her sword in the direction of the sound. 

“Whoa there!” Sylvain said, holding his hands up to  show he was unarmed. 

Petra let the sword swing to her side. “My apologies.”

“No worries,” the tall redhead replied. “It was my fault. I didn’t realize you were so deeply focused when I called your name. I would have waited otherwise.”

“Are you having a question for me?” Petra asked, wondering why he would seek her out after their last  interaction.

“Yeah,” he said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand. Petra stood, waiting for him to continue. He glanced at her and sighed. “This is hard, okay?” Sylvain picked up a training lance and stood in a defensive position. “Train with me?”

Petra nodded, swinging her sword into his polearm. He blocked her blow and the two fell into a rhythm. “Why have you a question?”

“I need to know why you were watching me.”

“I wanted understanding.”

“About what?”

“About you.”

“Why?”

Petra stopped swinging the training sword, sticking the point of the blade in the dirt. She rubbed the pommel absently as she tried to answer Sylvain. “You give me much concern,” she said slowly. “You are...” she hesitated and bowed apologetically. “There is a phrase in my language. You are that phrase.” Petra slowly spoke a sentence in Brigid. “I do not know if  Fodlan has words for this phrase. We will have to ask Edelgard.” Petra grabbed Sylvain’s hand and pulled him behind her. “Come.”

“Are all women of Brigid this forward?” Sylvain joked, trying not to panic. He didn’t want to involve  Edelgard into this discussion at all. She terrified him. 

Petra glanced back at him and said, “You will be explaining that later.” She dragged him to the Black Eagle classroom where  Edelgard was sitting, reading. 

“ Edelgard , can you be explaining this phrase to Sylvain?” Petra spoke the words again. 

The heir to the Empire covered her mouth, trying to hide a smile. “I will do my best to explain,” she said, eyes twinkling.  Edelgard looked at Sylvain and said, “It doesn’t have a good equivalent in  Fodlan , but the closest I can approximate is ‘You are a butterfly looking for flowers but you only find weeds.’”

“I have gratitude,  Edelgard ,” Petra said, bowing. 

“Of course. Why is Sylvain a butterfly looking for flowers?”

“That is between him and me.”

Sylvain shrugged helplessly as Petra once again pulled him by the hand and took him back to the training yard. 

When they were alone, he asked, “What does that mean?”

“You have much beauty,” she said, “here,” and touched his chest above his heart, “like a butterfly. But you waste your beauty on weeds, which gives no nourishment to the butterfly. It gives me sadness. Your butterfly needs a flower to grow strong.”

“And you think you are that flower?” Sylvain asked, annoyed. 

“I am not thinking that. But I think you need one. The weeds give you hurt and bruise your beauty. You must fly high to be away from them.”

Sylvain chuckled bitterly. “I can’t get away from them. All anyone wants from me is my title, my family Crest. They ensnare me, trying to keep it for themselves. But I have feelings too.”

“You must go where there are no Crests.”

“I can’t leave  Fodlan . I have a duty to my family.”

“Have they done their duty to you?” Petra asked softly. She wanted Sylvain to understand. 

He hung his head and turned away. “No,” he whispered. 

She touched his hand and replied, “Then you have no obligation to a tribe that will not care for you.” Petra put away the training weapons and sat down, drinking some water. She observed Sylvain standing in the middle of the yard, looking forlorn. She hoped she had given him something to think about as she slipped away. 


	3. Support A

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post time skip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not super satisfied with this chapter, but it'll do.

Support A

Five years of war passed and everyone had changed. Now a mature young woman, Petra confidently discussed Brigid fighting tactics to utilize on the battlefield. She proudly displayed her heritage, no longer hiding the spirit markings on her bronze skin. Sylvain listened as she made suggestions during their planning sessions in the Cardinal’s Room, impressed. He waited until everyone else had cleared the room before catching Petra by the arm. 

“Your people must be proud,” he complimented, releasing his grip. “Would our queens have your strength, wisdom, and grace. Petra blinked, confused by his glib statement. “I know, I know, it sounds like I’m putting the moves on you. But I mean it. You work harder than almost anyone here, except Lysithea, probably. You do Brigid a credit.”

Wary, Petra asked, “What is it you are wanting of me?”

A brief spark of hurt flashed in his eyes. “Don’t trust me, huh?” He grimaced, rubbing the back of his head. “I know we weren’t exactly friends back then, before all this, but you tried to look out for me.  So I’m trying to say...thanks.”

Petra bowed. “I have understanding.” She gazed steadily in his face before asking, “And you? Did you have finding, um, did you find your flower?”

Gently, Sylvain lifted his forefinger to Petra’s cheek mark and brushed his knuckle against it. “I don’t know. I haven’t had any time to look since the war started. But I think about it from time to time.”

Petra nodded slowly. “ Fodlan does not have all the flowers,” she reminded him. “ Almyra has many flowers. And  so does Dagda...and Brigid.”

Sylvain stared into her eyes, looking for an answer to an old question. “What kind of flower should I look for?”

Petra smiled brightly. “Butterflies thrive in warmer climates,” she answered. “You should be starting there.”


	4. Paired Ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why didn't the devs put Sylvain in a kilt?! Cowards. You know he'd rock it. Maybe he takes the fashion from Dagda?

Paired Ending

Once the war was over, Sylvain renounced his inheritance, angering his father and confusing his childhood friends. For a time, he disappeared, but reports placed him in Brigid. Petra gladly welcomed the tall Northerner, showing Sylvain all the beauties of the island. In the end, however, the beauty he desired most was the Queen of Brigid herself. The two were wed, consort and Queen, and had many children. It is said the Islanders referred to the pair as the Butterfly and the Sunflower.


End file.
